Tag: Accessories

Copilot cowl

On By Sharon4 Comments

Last year I went to the Bendigo Wool and Sheep Festival and purchased a skein of Dyed By Hand Yarns wool in a colour called  Gorgon’s Head Coral and then found a pattern in Ravelry by Dominique Trad called Copilot.

I started this soon after and not long after I realised I had twisted the stitches when I joined it in the round.  I decided to leave it this way and so far it hasn’t bothered me at all.

It was a good travelling project.

I enjoy wearing it and it is a great pop of colour in this dull winter weather,

and I find it quite comfortable worn doubled-up for extra warmth, particularly when I have my coat on.

One of the things I was hoping to improve with this pattern was my speed with YO, K2TOG in Continental Knitting (there is quite a lot of it) but so far I am still not quite there so will keep working on it.

The best thing about this pattern is that you can keep knitting until you no longer want to play “yarn chicken“, and this is the small amount of yarn I had left, very happy.

Coral Orange tube necklace

On By Sharon2 Comments

I just couldn’t help myself, I needed a new necklace for another semi formal dinner I was attending.

The same day that I made the Coral Red necklace set, I also made the above Coral Orange 5 strand necklace and earrings.

Julie was very helpful again in working out the colours for me and this class was a stringing workshop held by Bead Them Up.

For this necklace we chose:

  • 9mm Coral Orange tubes
  • 1.8mm black Spineless faceted round
  • Jewellery wire 19 strand 0.35mm

It was then a matter of choosing the length and making 5 separate strands, 

and then they are captured in a cone that is attached to the clasp.
and of course there had to be earrings.
Here we are at the formal dinner.
I am also thrilled thgat this necklace goes so well with this top.

Industry Shawl

On By Sharon2 Comments

I can’t remember how I found Libby from Truly Myrtle but I am so glad I did.

Libby is from New Zealand and I really do like the way she encompasses knitting, sewing and jewellery making in her life and the fact that she designs knitting patterns is a plus.

There is an active Truly Myrtle group on Raverly and I have just finished listening to all her podcasts, up to the last few in the car whilst driving to and from work.  Back in March Libby went back to video podcasts and I found that watching/listening to the video podcast make the filing at work quite enjoyable for a change and as I am in the office alone a lot of the time, this is not a problem.

Libby held a Knit Along! Spring Shawl, Wrap up KAL and I had this gorgeous SweetGeorgia Tough Love Sock Yarn purchased from Skein Sisters back in October 2017.

Part of the Knit Along was to use one of Libby’s patterns and as I only had 1 Skein of yarn and I wanted an easy public travel knitting project I chose the Industry Shawl and carried it around in my knitting bag I made back in April 2016.

Libby uses a very catchy song on her podcast by Mr Roberelli “Casting On”  and one of the lines is “Cause you can do it standing and you can do it sitting” so I’ve been having some fun knitting standing when waiting for my bus to arrive.

The weekend before the knitalong finished I managed to block the shawl, and it was one of the rare weekends of rain, I set it up in the office with the heater blowing gently across it.

Tomba wants to know why I am up a ladder!

I’m not sure if I will wear the shawl as a shawl

as the front is a bit more difficult to get looking right

so I prefer to wear it more bandana like

which I can then position to fill the gap in the front of my cardigans, as my back is already covered,

the wrap around at the back keeps my neck warm.

I am thoroughly enjoying wearing this shawl and the pop of colour is perfect for the grey days.

Filigree necklace

On By Sharon6 Comments

This is another workshop I did with Etelage,  it’s called Earring Duo & Stylists Secrets and is it is the simplest set to make.

I just love the colours and the delicate nature of this necklace.

The main piece is a large diamond filigree brass stamping and then you can add the colour beads of your choice to the points of the diamond.

I then chose a round bead to mimic the centre of the diamond to make a pair of earrings.

The set is getting a lot of wear with my T-Shirt with a Twist and also my Navy Linen T-Shirt during summer and I expect it will work well with my Cream Top for winter.

Travel Tray

On By Sharon1 Comment

It is great when you see a friend sew an item that you think would be perfect for your own use.

Cassiy posted this cute Travel Tray by Angie’s Bits ‘n Pieces that she is going to use at her ASG meetings to collect the fees for the day. Then it dawned on me that this would be the perfect travelling item for me, as wherever I go, I always seem to struggle to find a place for my watch, bracelet, earrings and necklace when I take them off for the day.

I still had a bit of the Xanadu Purple Haze that I used for my Take Off Tote as well as the blue quilting cotton so these were used for this tray.

This was my project at our last ASG meeting for the year in 2016, it was all cut out and ready to sew and by the time we stopped for our Christmas Lunch all the sewing was finished, only the snaps were left to do.

Using my Dk-93 Snap Press and some Snap Source Size 16 Antique Copper Open Prong Ring snap fasteners I installed them on each corner 2cm away from the edge.

It is cute and it is the perfect item for when I travel.

I just wish I had thought about the alignement of the snaps so I could have snapped it together in a tidy manner to pack!

Tribute to Tribal

On By Sharon7 Comments

I’ve found some more time to bead and realised the other necklace colour I was missing was yellow and orange and luckily my sister had given me a box of beads for Christmas 2013 which contained just the right beads called Tribute to Tribal.

For this necklace I thought I would let the beads do the talking and used links and small yellow beads to join the striped beads together and then added some antique spacers to break it up a bit.

and the earrings

This set really looks great with my lemon t-shirt and I do have some gorgeous orange merino jersey earmarked for a top.

Spinach necklace

On By Sharon9 Comments

I have been reviewing my jewellery compared to my garments and realised that I didn’t have a long green necklace.

So during the long weekend I spent some time beading, again using one of the Jesse James Beads bead strands that I have purchased from Spotlight.

This bead strand is called “Spinach 1” and I forgot to take a photo but this is what the current “Spinach 1” looks like at JesseJamesBeads.com

I decided to try my hand again at Byzantine chains which I haven’t done since April 2012.

The good thing is that this necklace will work with all lot of garments in my wardrobe.

When I purchased the “Spinach 1” bead set I also purchased a pack of the same Inspiration Mix,

which included among them the two brown beads I used for the earrings.

There are a couple more necklaces I need for my wardrobe so now I need to find some more time to bead.

New knitting bag

On By Sharon6 Comments

When I can’t sew I take my knitting and have been using a large knitting bag for many years.

Besides it looking very tired it was too large for my trip overseas so when Andi Satterlund from Untangling Knots posted about Knitting at Parties, she shared a link for the perfect little knitting bag.

The Reversible Sock Knitting Project Bag  by Very Shannon.

I have quite a bit of the Vera Bradley fabric in my “bag stash” and have used it previously making a Spice of Life bag which unfortunately stays in the cupboard.  I’ve realised that even though I love the fabric I will enjoy it a lot more making accessories for my knitting.

I have used both the large floral and added the large border to add some interest to the side of the bag.

For the lining I used the smaller patterned fabric.

I cut a strip of the large floral and used the smallest Fasturn tube to make the cord.

This was the perfect size bag for my trip.  I did take the cotton facecloth that I was knitting and a skein of wool as well as 2 pairs of interchangeable needles for my circular needles for the knitting class I did at the Sewing & Stitchery Expo

The facecloth is now finished and although not perfect I am feeling a lot more comfortable with the “continental style” of knitting.

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2016 Stash Out: 3.4 m
2016 Stash In: 15 m

The Tiny Essentials Tote Bag

On By Sharon13 Comments

In November the Australian Sewing Guild posted that they were going to host their first Sew Along, The Tiny Essentials Tote Bag and I decided to sew along.

Back in 2012 when I did this workshop I purchased the fabric from Ikea, I also purchased the fabric below designed by Cilla Ramnek* 2008 designed for Ikea intending to make another Tote Bag.

However this, some black duck cloth and some green/yellow circles that were in my bag stash just wanted to play along.  

The interfacing was on hand but the 24″ Long Pull Zip that I wanted in green or black wasn’t and this isn’t something that I was going to find locally.   Luckily Alison pointed me in the direction of Zippit and I placed an order for the zips.

Whilst waiting for my zips to arrive I did manage to complete up to Day 2 of the Sew Along

Quilted, handles made and pinned on.

and then when my zippers arrived, it was decision time – green or black?

I ended up choosing the green as the gusset for the bag is black.

Then life got in the way and it has taken me until now to finish this bag.

and here you can see the gusset and zip

I decided to use a lingerie bag for part of the inside of the tote keeping the zip to keep the contents secure and then put covered elastic on the other side to hold chargers etc.

and loaded up to go on holidays, although I’m certain I take more cables than this away!

I learnt quite a few techniques with this sew-along and I also know that my piping needs more work.

Every time I look at this bag it makes me smile, I just love those trees!

* Here is some more information about Cilla Ramnek here.

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2015 Stash Out: 16.85 m
2015 Stash In: 18 m

Twas 5 nights before Christmas …..

On By Sharon7 Comments

and I decided to make an extra gift for Mark’s nieces and nephew.

This is where sewing with your friends on 19 December  at our ASG Group at The Remnant Warehouse is dangerous.  Deborah was making the Bendy Bag by Lazy Girl Designs and I was keeping a close eye on how this went together as I had the pattern in my stash and do have intentions of making one for myself.

Well Deborah made 2 in the one day of sewing so that got me thinking and when I showed Mark what I was thinking of, he said yes and he would have one as well*.

So again the bag stash was raided and so was my zipper stash as I needed  a 14″ zipper for each bag.

The only thing that Deborah and I weren’t that thrilled about was that the lining seams are visible and I did try and work out how to hide them but really don’t think it is possible.  So I took some of the offcuts over to my Juki and tried a few finishes.

This is what I found worked best for those seams.

Stitch length of 1, Blade at 3.5 and foot pressure H.

I did manage to get two sewn during the working week and I was very thankful that our office closed on 23 December so that left me Christmas Eve to finish off the other two.

These were well received by Mark’s nieces and nephew and there were quite a few hints from other members of the family, so I might have next years gifts for some already worked out!

* Mark is still waiting for his!

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2015 Stash Out: 15.85 m
2015 Stash In: 18 m